Father's Day Novelisation
by Josman
Summary: Rose's father was killed in a car accident when she was a year old. Now she has the chance to see him before he died, will she be able to resist changing history?
1. Pete Tyler

**Author's notes: I think I'm supposed to say something introductory at the start. Sadly I can't think of anything. Getting on with the story...**

**Oh and, I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Father's Day**

**Chapter 1: Pete Tyler.**

_With her mum watching some boring grown up programme on the telly, young Rose Tyler had gone to make another attempt at getting into Narnia. Sadly, the backs of all the cupboards remained solid._

_In one of the last ones she tried, her mother's bedside cabinet, Rose found a small stack of photo albums. She liked photographs so she decided to have a look through. These ones were old. Older than her. They showed a lot of people she didn't know. Including one man who appeared in a lot of them._

_She took the album into the living room and got Jackie's attention. "Mummy. Who's this man with you in all the photos?"_

_Jackie went wide eyed for a moment, then quickly took the album off her daughter. "I've told you not to go through my things!" And she quickly carried the book back to her bedroom._

_When she didn't come back for several minutes, Rose sheepishly put her head round the door, in the hope of saying sorry._

_She found Jackie on the bed, looking through the album herself, holding back tears. "I'm sorry I got cross. Come here." She said patting the bed. Rose went to join her. Jackie smiled and pointed to one of the pictures. "This man. He's your Daddy you're not old enough to remember when he died. 7th of November 1987. Do you remember what I told you? The day Sarah Clarke and Stuart Hoskins got married. He was always having adventures. He'd've loved to have seen you now."_

"My Mum always told me these things about him. Said he was the most wonderful man in the world." Rose said to the Doctor, having finally worked up the courage to ask him about something she'd been rolling around in her mind ever since she'd first stepped into the TARDIS. "So I was wondering... Could we? See him while he's alive I mean."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Where's this come from all of a sudden?"

Rose turned to try and find something to look at on the far side of the control room. "It was just an idea. I mean, it's probably against the laws of time or something..."

"No, should be OK, 'slong as we're careful. It's you I'm worried about. Are you sure you want to see him?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah."

"Your wish is my command." Grinned the Doctor. "But be careful what you wish for." He gave the temporal tiller a hard shove and the TARDIS steered towards the 1980s.

* * *

"Repeat after me. I, Peter Allen Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Prentice."

Pete gulped with nerves. "I, Peter Allen Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzzane... Su... Suzette Andrea... er... Prentice." He looked at the vicar, not sure if he should start again or not.

"Oh just carry on." Said Jackie. "It's good enough for Lady Di."

Pete smiled, reminded of some of the reasons he was marrying this woman. With this boost in strength, he got through the rest of the vows with little trouble.

"In the back of the church, ignored by most of the guests who assumed they were someone else's cousins. The Doctor and Rose were watching, with slight amusement.

"I thought he'd be taller." Said Rose.

* * *

"Well, that's them." Said the Doctor, watching the Tylers pose for the photographer. Rose remembered seeing this very scene in a photo on her mother's nightstand. She even spotted the woman with her shopping, wandering past, the one Jackie had pointed out and explained that the photographer had airbrushed her to look like a bush.

She turned to the Doctor. "There's one other thing..."

* * *

_"He was so close to home when he died." Said Jackie. "But I wasn't there. No-one was. It was a hit and run driver. We never found out who. He was dead before the ambulance got there. I just wish someone could've been there for him."_

"I'd like to be there, with him." Said Rose.

The Doctor simply nodded. "November the Seventh?"

"1987."

He turned the chronometric dial the slightest of fractions, hit a couple of switches and released the handbrake. The column sounded just once before the machine came to a stop.

Rose stepped out. It was a reasonably warm day for November. Birds were singing. Cars were driving past. A man in denims was putting up posters demanding _No third term for Thatcher._ Somehow, this wasn't what she was expecting.

"The day my Dad died. I thought it would be all dark and stormy. It's just an ordinary day."

"The past's a foreign country." Said the Doctor. "1987's just the Isle of Wight. You sure you wanna' do this?"

Rose nodded. "He can't die alone."

The two of them stepped round the side of an abandoned pool club. It was a quiet street they found themselves in. A convenient place to park, just within sight of the Powel Estate.

"This is it, Georgie Road." Said Rose. "He was late. Mum said he'd gone to pick up a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase." She watched as a green Ford pulled up at the curb. "He parked here... Went to cross the road..." Around the corner they heard the sound of someone over-revving their engine. Seconds later, a brown car skidded round the corner. "My God, this is it."

The driver slammed on the brakes and swerved to the right, but it was too late. Pete was knocked across the tarmac. The vase he was carrying flew through the air and shattered on the ground. The driver panicked and slammed the throttle, speeding away, while a group of girls gathered round a phone box scrambled to dial 999. But Rose remained rooted to the spot.

"Go to him, quick." Said the Doctor.

"I can't." Sobbed Rose, who promptly disappeared round the corner. The Doctor followed.

Shortly afterwards, the sound of a siren filled the air.

"It's too late now." Said Rose. "By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead." She looked up "He can't die on his own. Can I try again?"

* * *

Alarm bells were ringing in the Doctor's head as he led Rose round the far side of the building. Peering round the corner, he could just see himself and Rose from a few minutes ago. He was taking a lot of risk being here, but he didn't have the heart to tell Rose it couldn't be done.

"It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here, so make sure they don't see us. Wait until she runs off and he follows."

They watched as Pete pulled up at the curb again.

Rose was looking at the girls stood by the phone box, in a minute, they'd phone for an ambulance but none of them would think to go to her dad. Nor would any number of people looking out of their windows. But she couldn't fault them too far. After all, she'd just watched a man get hit by a car and done nothing to help. And now she was about to do it again.

"I can't do this." She said.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to. But this is the last time we can be here." Said the Doctor.

Rose could see the brown car approaching now. "No, I mean..." Oh screw it. Before the Doctor could stop her, she raced round the corner, in the direction of Pete's car.

Pete just had time to catch the approaching vehicle in the corner of his eye, before he heard a cry of "Look out!" Followed by a solid weight shoving into him, knocking him to one side. The vase slid from his grip and rolled along the road, undamaged.

The past Doctor, looked back and forth between the two Rose's for a few moments, before he and past Rose vanished, as though God had abruptly wiped them from the scene.

Pete, meanwhile, was picking himself up and staring at the retreating car as it disappeared from view. "Did you see how fast he was going? Did you get his number?" Next to him, the girl was picking herself up off the road, with a strange look of bewilderment on her face.

"I did it! You're alive!" She gasped. "That... that car was gonna kill ya."

"Give me some credit, I could see it coming. Wasn't just gonna walk under it was I?" He grinned.

"I'm Rose." The girl blurted.

"Pete." He tried to shake her hand, but she seemed slightly non-responsive. "I've got a daughter named Rose, nice coincidence."

"Good choice! Rose. Great name!" Rose said, with poorly disguised glee. There was something very odd about the girl, though she seemed harmless enough.

"Right, well I should be off. Got a wedding to go to."

"Is that Sarah Clarke's wedding?"

"Yeah, why? You headed there?"

"Yes!" She said on the spur of the moment.

"Perhaps you and your boyfriend'd like a lift." He gestured over to the Doctor, whom Rose had virtually forgotten about. The time lord was stood there, glaring daggers at her.

* * *

Had anybody thought to look skywards, they would have suffered an incredible sense of alarm. As it was, the creature circling overhead paid them no heed. It would return for them. For now, their mistake was giving it strength. Strength enough to look for victims to devour.

* * *

Pete led his guests through the front door. Rose had calmed down considerably as they walked up here. The man was yet to speak.

"Sorry about the mess." He said. "If you want some tea, it's in the cupboard above the sink. Milk's in the fridge. Obviously. Where else would you put milk? I suppose the window sill, in the winter. Someone could probably make a lot of money if they made a special window sill with compartments. One for milk, one for eggs... sell it to students... I should probably write that down... Anyway, excuse me, I need to change." He disappeared into Jackie's room. No, his and Jackie's room, Rose reminded herself.

She looked around the flat.18 years in the past and the place was in no better a state. Different walls, different furniture, but still just as cluttered and just as filthy. Some of the fittings, she hadn't seen in over a decade, but she still remembered them.

But then there were also details she couldn't remember. For one thing, the strong smell of baby, which presumably was coming from her. More significantly, the various artefacts left behind by Pete. Keen to engage the Doctor in conversation, she decided to show him.

"All the stuff Mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes. Used to show me when she'd had a few. Here it is. On display, where it should be." She picked up a trophy from a shelf. "Third prize in the bowling. The first two got to go to Didcot." The Doctor's glare failed to alter so she tried again. "Health drinks." She picked up a bottle from a large stack in the corner, labelled _Vitex_. "Energy drinks, Mum used to call 'em. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had lots of jobs, he was so clever." Still, the silent treatment. In one last attempt, Rose brushed some clutter off a set of blueprints on a table. "Solar power. Mum said he was gona' do this. Now he can." The Doctor still wouldn't respond. "Look, I'll tell him you're not my boyfriend."

The Doctor spoke at last "When I asked you if you wanted to travel in space, you said no. When I said time, you leapt at the opportunity."

"Look, this wasn't some big plan. I just saw it happening and I thought... I can save him."

The Doctor shook his head. First Adam, now her. "I've done it again. Picked another stupid ape. 'cos it's never about seeing the universe, it's about making the universe do something for you."

"Oh so it's ok when you save people, but it's not ok for me to save my Dad?"

"I know what I'm doing! Two sets of us being there made it a vulnerable point."

"He's alive!" Cried Rose.

"My whole planet died. My people. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?"

"But it's not like I've changed history. He's never gonna be, like, a world leader or something."

"Rose, a man's alive in the world who shouldn't be. An ordinary man. That's the most important thing in creation."

"Would you rather he died?"

The Doctor looked at his feet. "I'm not sayin' that..."

"Yeah, I get this now! For once, you're not the most important man in my life, and you can't stand that."

"Well let's see how you get on without me. Give it."

"What?"

"The TARDIS key. Since I'm so insignificant to you."

"Alright fine!" She handed it over.

"Well, since I've got you where you wanted, I'll be off." He turned to storm out.

"You don't scare me!" Rose shouted after him. "'cos I know how sad you are! You'll be back for me. Probably wait outside the TARDIS. And I'm gonna make you wait a long time!" She slammed the door behind him and leaned against a wall for support.

"Boyfriend trouble?" Said Pete.

* * *

The creature watched as the man in leathers left the flat. Unnoticed by him, it sniffed at him. What it smelled disturbed it and it decided to leave him for now.

Instead, it swooped over a row of gardens, hidden by some tall buildings. No one would see it unless they happened to look skywards at the moment it appeared overhead. That was just what a woman hanging out her s washing did. It was the last thing she ever did. The creature swooped down, and in a second there was no trace left of her left. It proceeded onwards, taking out a man cutting the grass, and old lady digging up weeds, a child looking out of the window and a tramp in the alleyway outside. Few of the victims even had time to scream.

The creature wasn't alone. One by one, creatures like it were appearing out of thin air, ready to devour all the people below.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Just a thought: Why is a trip to Didcot considered a prize? I don't quite get that.**


	2. A Red Wedding

**Chapter 2: A Red Wedding**

* * *

Rose paced angrily and tried to find some form of distraction. The usual post-argument thoughts were running round her head. Cleverer and cleverer reasons why she'd been right and how she should have explained that to the Doctor. She groaned in frustration as she cleared some rubbish from the living room into a small bag.

"You cleaning? You didn't have to." Pete returned, having changed into his best suit.

"Yeah, er, force of habit." Rose said, and sat on the sofa looking lost.

"Don't worry." Said Pete. "Couples have rows all the time."

"Were not a couple." Said Rose. "Why does everyone think we're a couple?" She sighed. "I think he's abandoned me."

"What, pretty girl like you? If I was dating you..."

"Stop, right there!" Rose cut him off quickly. "We're not going there! Trust me, you don't want to go there. You don't even know there exists. There for you is like the Bermuda Triangle. So we can keep there out of the question."

Pete blinked. "Blimey, you really know how to flatter a bloke."

Rose decided to change subject by offering him an arm. "So we off then?"

"What that's not a mixed signal?"

"Well no."

Pete took her arm and guided her out the door. He wondered if he should see about taking her back to the loony bin once the wedding was done.

* * *

Stuart Hoskins sat at the front of the church. Sarah was running late, but that was always the way, so he was told. It was little good for nerves. While he was sure she wouldn't get cold feet, he had other reasons for feeling worried. The wedding officially started five minutes ago and half the seats were still empty, as if some major catastrophe had prevented them from getting here.

"It's just weird." He said to his dad. "Uncle Steven, Auntie Lyn, all the Baxters. I mean, where are they? You don't s'pose something's gone wrong?"

"Perhaps you could take is as a Godsend." His dad shrugged. "Gives you time to think. You don't have to go through with this you know. Not these days." He'd been uncertain whether this was a good idea from the start. "Live in si for a bit. Enjoy yourself."

"Dad." Steven groaned.

"In ten years time, you may look back on this day and say "I wish I could turn the clock back."" He added, glancing at his wife, sat several rows back. As if the room had a sense of irony, the temperature chose this moment to drop several degrees. Something the congregation found odd, there hadn't even been a breeze, the air had just somehow lost its warmth.

* * *

The Doctor marched back towards the TARDIS without a second's look back. He too was thinking up cleverer and cleverer reasons why he was right, largely to stop himself from thinking about what to do next. He couldn't keep dragging around irresponsible Earthgirls if they wouldn't behave themselves. But he had been much better for having Rose around. He couldn't allow her to think she had a free reign to play with history. But he couldn't leave her running around in her past. He would have to find a calm room in the TARDIS to think it over.

But the moment he opened the TARDIS doors, the Doctor, who'd faced off against an Egyptian death god and whole skies filled with Daleks, felt a sense of terror greater than any he had ever felt. The TARDIS, the great blue box, was just... a blue box. The moment he'd opened the door, he'd been greeted by the back of a police box, complete with rude messages criminals had scratched in the paint.

He stepped in and ran his hands all over the interior in search of some kind of trick. He closed his eyes and tried to walk through it. He kicked several of the wood panels for good measure. He looked wildly round the surrounding area in the hope that he'd simply got the wrong box. But there was no mistaking it, the interior and the exterior had gotten out of phase. Almost certainly, this would be due to distortions in the local time streams. And that would mean...

"Rose!" He shouted, and took off down the road.

* * *

Rose was trying not to think about the very real possibility that the Doctor would simply refuse to let her back into the TARDIS after what she'd pulled. She'd be stuck there for good. Instead, she was using this opportunity to get to know her dad a little better.

"...but then I met this bloke down the horses, and he said it was already copyrighted." Pete was explaining.

"I thought you were a proper businessman and like?" Said Rose.

He smiled, glad to have made a good impression on at least somebody. "I wish. I dabble. A bit of this, a bit of that. Scrape by." He did a brief double take as a strange car came the other way, it was far less angular than anything else on the road. He supposed someone had performed some kind of custom job to round everything off.

Rose, meanwhile, was looking in the back of the car, which was littered with merchandise he hadn't got round to selling yet. Cassette players that looked like they'd seen better days, football annuals from the 1985/86 season, hats... it was starting to occur to Rose that her mother's memories may have been idealised.

"So really, you're, like, a Del-boy?"

"Shoot me down in flames." He grinned. "You're not related to my wife by any chance?"

Another alarming thought came to Rose. "Oh no, will she be at the wedding?"

"What Jackie? Yeah. Do ya know her?"

"Well... just... sort of..."

"She talk about me much?"

"Well... She said... She'd picked the most wonderful man in the world." Rose smiled. She was disappointed to see Pete raise an eyebrow.

"Must be a different Jackie. She'd never say that stuff about me."

Fortunately, the conversation was cut off at this point as the song on the radio changed, playing a rap song Pete didn't recognise, though Rose did:

_Put your phone back_

_Quit staring into space and eat your snack, that's that_

_She'll want you much for not hanging on_

_Stop me if I'm wrong, stop me if I'm wrong_

_Why should she be the one who decides whether its off or on or on or off or on_

_Now the girl's rude, I know she's rude, but she screwed right through you_

_You'll be on your knees soon_

"That stuff goes right over my head." Sighed Pete.

"It's not out yet!" Said Rose.

"I should hope not."

Rose's knowledge of cause and effect came from watching a few episodes of _Red Dwarf_ and had no idea what to make of this. Surely her dad being alive couldn't have _that_ effect on the timeline? Her first instinct was to talk to the Doctor, before she remembered that they weren't on good terms right now. But she should still check to see if he'd called her about anything alarming.

"Should probably check my messages." She said.

Pete glanced at the small box she pulled out of her pocket and began prodding buttons on. "Is that a phone?"

"Yeah."

"Fancy new gizmos." He looked back to the road as another strangely shaped car passed by. He supposed there must be some "cars of the future" show taking place nearby.

As it turned out, she had a message from an unknown number. He pressed play and put the phone to her ear.

"Watson, come in. I need you." Said a voice. "Watson, come in. I need you."

Behind them, and unseen by either occupant, a very familiar brown car was following them a bit more quickly than it should. The driver braked for no apparent reason, swerved to the left, paused and floored the throttle. To the outside observer, he drove straight into a wipe as he did so, vanishing from sight.

* * *

Stuart found his dad outside the church. The man was using the confusion as an excuse to use his mobile phone for something.

"...half the guests haven't even turned up... You're better off not being here, it's a disaster in the making... No, in this case, knocked her up is a phrase I'd use... Listen..." He paused as signal interference crackled through the phone. Followed by an upper-class voice saying "Watson, come in. I need you."

"Hello, who is this?"

"Watson, come in. I need you."

He hung up and started to redial the number, before Stuart stopped him. "Dad, get inside, it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding."

"This whole thing was bad luck from the start." He grumbled.

As they stepped in, a car adorned with ribbons pulled up outside the gate. The driver pulled the back door open and Sarah stepped out, resplendent in the finest white dress they could buy with their available money.

Bev and Katie were waiting to greet her. "Now that's a proper meringue!" Beamed the former.

"Listen." Said Katie. "Stuart's dad says to go around the block, 'cos there's people missing."

"What do you mean missing?" Said Sarah.

"Not turned up. There's no Dave, no Sonita, no B, there's no-one from the Lamb and Flag..." Katie began, but her friend was quickly distracted by more pressing concerns.

"Oh, my train's dethatched again. I knew I should've gone with velcro." Sarah moaned.

"I'm here, stop your bellyaching." Said Jackie as she emerged from the far side of the car. She pulled the baby seat from the back and handed it to Bev. "Here, take Rose a minute, I'll have a look at her train."

"I'n't she prety?" Bev cooed at the baby.

"She's a little madam, I'll tell ya what." Said Jackie. "Ooh, I need more hands. Where's her useless article of a dad got to?"

As if on cue, Pete's car came down the road, with some strange blonde girl sat in the front seat. Pete was peering at the pavement, in search of parking restrictions, completely oblivious of the brown car coming speeding round the corner ahead.

"DAD!" Shouted Rose, pointing madly.

Pete swerved to the left, missing the car by inches. He mounted the pavement and only narrowly avoided hitting the railings outside the graveyard.

"Where'd that car come from? That was the same car from earlier!" He jumped out and studied the road behind him. The car was gone. And there was no-where it could have disappeared to in the time. Weird. He turned to Rose to ask about his second concern: "You called me dad, why'd you do that?"

Before Rose could think up a response, her mother interrupted. "Wonderful. Here he is. Accident waiting to happen! You'd be late to your own funeral. And it nearly was!" Rose stared. This was her mother, but 18 years younger than she'd last spoken to her. It was as though she'd had a really major facelift. She was much thinner, less saggy, and her hair was done in some weird 80s perm.

"There's no damage done." Pete said sheepishly.

"And who's she?" His wife gestured at Rose for the first time. "What are you staring at."

"Your hair..." She said absently. "I've never seen it like..." Suddenly realising, she added "It's lovely, your hair's lovely." The girl's eyes widened as she noticed the basket in Jackie's arms. "That baby. That would be... your baby."

The strange girl reached out for the basket. Jackie instinctively backed away a few paces. "Another one of yours is she?"

"She saved my life!" Said Pete.

"Oh, that's a new one. What was it last time?"

"I didn't even know her!" Seeing the girl turn to stare at him now, he added: "She was a cloak room attendant... I was helping her look for my ticket... There were these three duffle coats there. the rack, sort of collapsed on us. We were under all this stuff."

Rose's eyebrows rose higher, this was another story Jackie had never shared with her. "Were you fooling around?"

"And what's it got to do with you, what he gets up to!" Jackie shouted at her.

"What does he get up to?"

"You'd know!"

"Oh, 'cos I'm that stupid!" Said Pete "I play around then I bring her to meet the mrs! Silly cow."

"Oh, but you _are_ that stupid." Said Jackie.

"Can we keep this stuff for back home, just for now!" He waved at some of the guests, who were doing their best not to look their way.

"What, with the other rubbish! You bring home cut price detergents! Tonic water! Betamax tapes! And none of it works! What did he tell you?" She added to Rose. "Did he say he was this big businessman? 'cos he's not, he's a faliure! Born faliure that one! Rose needs a proper Dad."

"Jackie, I am making a living, keeping us fed..." He started, but soon found Jackie shouting over him.

Rose looked back and forth through their shouting match. It was hard for anybody to have to watch their parents fight. Harder when you've never seen it before. She could feel the image her mother had given her, of this happy, wonderful marriage, crumbling about her ears.

"Stop it!" She shouted. "You're not like this! You love each other!"

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Well that's new, you never used to like them mental! If you're not careful there could be a wedding and a divorce on the same day!"

She stormed off. Pete went to run after her, before realising he'd left the car sitting across the pavement. "I need to deal with this. Could you watch the car?" He said to Rose. "In fact..." He handed her the keys. "Perhaps you could stick it round the corner or something. Don't cause any more trouble."

* * *

In a playground, not far from the church, a young boy was being pushed on the swing. To his right, his friend Jen was clambering over the climbing frame. To his left, two boys he didn't know were playing on the see-saw, with their mum watching them from a bench.

The boy looked idly around and was just in time to catch a glimpse of some strange animal, before it vanished from sight, leaving behind an empty bench, and no-one watching the boys on the see-saw.

"Hey Jen!" He called. Hearing no response, he looked to his right, where Jen had been seconds before. Now she was gone. He looked back at the bench. It was still empty, and now so was the see-saw. He looked back to tell his granny, but she'd gone since the last time she'd pushed him.

With nothing left to do, the boy leapt off the swing and ran.

* * *

Having parked the car, Rose had decided it was better to watch her parents from a distance. Jackie had calmed down somewhat, but she still looked miserable.

"It's the duffle coats all over again." Her mother was saying.

"Jackie. Sometimes a duffle coat's just a duffle coat." Pete sighed.

"You're doing my head in with these daft schemes. I never know where the next meal's coming from."

"Things'll get better soon, I promise."

"But when?"

"I'll get it right. One day soon. I promise ya, I'll get it right. Please trust me on this."

Both Rose and Jackie could tell it was paining the man not be able to provide for the three of them, though he'd never admit it. The girl was pleased to see her mother soften at his pleas. She remembered something she'd overheard a school psychologist say. That all parents fought sometimes. It didn't mean they didn't love each other.

"Monsters!" Shouted a new voice. "Going to eat us!" A boy came running down the road, towards the wedding party.

"What monsters sweetheart?" Said Katie. "Is it aliens?" She laughed. The boy ignored her and ran through the doors, into the church.

"ROSE!" Shouted a more familiar voice. Rose wasn't sure if she should be smug, relieved, or apologetic, but the Doctor's voice was a happy sound at any rate.  
She turned to face him, still not sure what she'd say, but her face promptly fell as she spotted the look of panic on his face. "Get in the church!" He shouted. His panicked gaze shifted at this point, to a spot several feet to her right.

Rose followed his eye line, to see a creature hovering in mid air. The creature looked like some enormous bat, with massive claws. There was a mouth, running the length of its chest, which it opened up, to reveal a throat, lined with teeth, extending much further than the creature could contain. It seemingly stretched into infinity.

As she was staring at this one, two more materialised above the churchyard, eliciting panicked screams from most of the party. Several people inside ran out to see what was happening.

"Get inside!" Shouted the Doctor, but too late for Stuart, who upon seeing this beast on his right, instinctively ran to the left. Eyes caught by this flurry of movement, a creature swooped down on him. As it caught him, there was an incredible flash of white light, before the creature rose, leaving no trace of the man behind.

"MOVE!" Screamed the Doctor. The congregation didn't need telling twice. They charged at the church door, only for a creature to land ahead of them and cut them off.

Sarah screamed her lungs out. The creature lit up white for a second before reeling away, something that took even the Doctor by surprise.

Instead, it wheeled to the left, where the vicar was making a break for his car. It caught him before he'd gone another three steps.

"Get in now!" Shouted the Doctor and the whole party piled through the doors of the church. The doctor slammed the doors behind them and shoved a piece of wood through the handles. A creature slammed into it, but made no impression.

The Doctor turned to look around the building. "All old doors and windows. Good. 15th century church. What's old is best." He looked to the side where a creature was clawing at a window, scratching the glass but not breaking it. Three dimensional strength didn't matter to them, only age. A reinforced tank built in the 80s would have been torn apart like paper. "What else... Everyone check all the other windows and doors, make sure they're locked. Move!"

"What are those creatures?" Cried Jackie, as he tried the door to the bell tower.

"Reapers. There's been an accident in time. A wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage."

"Time? What do you mean time! What are you jabbering on about time?"

"Oh, I might've known you'd argue. Jackie. I'm sick of..."  
"How do you know my name!" She interrupted.

"I don't have time for this...

"I've never met you before in my life!"

"No! And you never will unless I fix this! So, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler. Do as I say. **Go and check the doors.**"

"Yes sir." She said meekly.

"I should've done that years ago." He grinned.

Stuart rushed up to the Doctor "My dad was outside."

"We can mourn him later. Right now, we need to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive."

"Yes, but he had this." He held up the phone he'd picked up after his dad had dropped it. "I can't get it to work. I keep hearing this voice...

"Watson, come in. I need you."

"That's the first phone call. Alexander Graham Bell." The Doctor smiled. "I don't think phones are a lot of use."

"But someone's got to phone the police!"

"The police can't help us now. No-one can. Nothing in the universe can harm those creatures. Time's been damaged, and they've come to sterilise the wound. By consuming everything inside it."

"Is this... 'cos of..." Rose stammered. "Is this my fault?"

The Doctor said nothing, just turned away to find something else to do. But his look said everything.

Next to Rose, Pete was listening to everything. The gears were rapidly turning in his head. But he didn't like where they were turning to.

Outside, more and more of the reapers were appearing out of nowhere, getting stronger all the time. They could smash through most buildings like they weren't even there, consuming all those within in the process. Those who saw them attack tried to spread the alarm, but all the phones were repeating Alexander Graham Bell's voice, while the TV was showing some old Charlie Chaplin film and the radio was playing _Don't mug yourself_ on every frequency. Even if they had organised somehow, it would have made little difference. They couldn't stop the creatures. Anyone who even saw them and wasn't near an old building had seconds to live.

* * *

**Author's notes: The description of the reapers comes from a piece of concept art I saw, which I thought looked slightly more terrifying than the finished product.**

**By the way, I don't own _Don't Mug Yourself_either (thank God)**


	3. The Siege of Time

**Chapter 3: The siege of time:**

Pete locked the vestry door, just as a reaper was about to get a grasp on the handle with its massive claws. The creature screamed and smashed at the window, scratching the glass but not breaking it. It gave up and went to find another weak point.

Across the road, he spotted another of these creatures smashing their way into a house, through the roof. A young couple fled the building, while two of the reapers gave chase. They quickly caught up with the man. The woman screamed and turned back as though she meant to help him, but quickly realised she couldn't. Instead, she fled round the corner, out of sight. Another reaper in hot pursuit.

As Pete watched, horrified, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see the Doctor coming to look out the window himself.

"There's smoke coming from the city but no sirens." Pete said. "The thing is, I don't think it's just us, I think it's the whole world."

But the Doctor wasn't listening. He was watching as that same brown car shimmered into existence on the road outside. It sped round the corner. The driver swerved to the right and slammed on the brakes, even though there was nothing there, before fading from existence.

Pete hadn't been looking but he heard the squeal of the tyres. He looked out at the now empty road. "Was that a car?"

"No need to think about that." The Doctor said quickly, and left the room.

* * *

Rose was stood by the alter, looking at the display of crosses before her with tears in her eyes. She felt as though she should say sorry at this point, though she'd never been to big on the religious stuff she'd been told repentance was supposed to be comforting. She really needed comforting right now.

"This mate of yours," her Dad's voice took her by surprise, "he said this was because of something you'd done. What did he mean by that?"

"Dunno, just... everything."

"I gave you my car keys... the moment I met ya. You don't give your car keys to a complete stranger. It's like I just trusted ya." He paused for a moment. "A wound in time? You called me dad. You've got my eyes. And Jackie's attitude. You're her aren't you? Your my Rose, all grown up."

"Dad." She sobbed and promptly ran into his arms, crying into his shoulder.

* * *

The Doctor was circling the church. He'd already checked every door several times and made notes of possible secondary lines of defence. Nonetheless, he kept checking. It stopped people talking to him.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that the groom worked up the nerve to approach him. "Excuse me... Mr..."

"Just Doctor." He said, sonicing round the edge of a side door.

"Doctor. You seem to know what you're doing..."

He prodded at the door and rattled the handle, still as solid as before. "I give that impression, yes."

"We were wondering... my fiancé and I..."

"Can you save us?" Sarah cut in.

The Doctor stopped to look at them for the first time. "And who're you two then?"

"Stuart Hoskins."

"Sarah Clarke."

"And one extra?" The Doctor nodded at her pregnant belly. "Boy or a girl?"

"Dunno. Don't wanna know really. Spoils the surprise." Said Sarah

"And how did all this get started?"

The couple smiled. "Outside the _Beatbox Club_" Said Stuart.

"I'd lost my purse, couldn't get a taxi, so he offered me a lift." Said Sarah.

"Took her home." He said.

"And what?" Said the Doctor. "Asked her for a date?"

"Wrote his number on the back of my hand." Said Sarah.

"Haven't got rid of her since." Stuart grinned. "My Dad said..." His face promptly dropped. Sarah grasped his hand reassuringly.

Her eyes travelled to the door as it thumped briefly. "I don't know what all this is. And I know we're not important..."

"Who says you're not important." Said the Doctor. "I've been to all sorts of places, done things you couldn't even imagine. But this! You two. Street corner. Two in the morning. Getting a taxi home. Yes. I'll try and save you."

* * *

Rose and her Dad were sat in silence for a long time. Finally, he thought of some words. "Wow. I'm a Dad! I mean, I'm already a Dad but... Rose grows up... into you! To be honest, I thought you'd be a bit useless. My useless genes and all."

Rose smiled at that.

"How did you get here?"

"Do you really wanna know?"

He nodded.

"Time machine."

He shrugged. Given everything that had happened today, that didn't seem beyond the realms of possibility. "Do you all have time machines where you come from?"

"No, just the Doctor."

"And... did you know these things were coming?"

"No."

"Blimey, my head's spinning. So... what's the future like?"

"Lots different."

"What am I like? Have I gone grey?"

Rose forced herself not to change expression.

"Have I gone bald? Don't tell me I've gone bald!"

Rose was clearly struggling to think of an answer. Some part of Pete's mind knew why, but the rest was determined not to think about that possibility.

"So um..." Pete changed the subject. "This Doctor. If you and him aren't together, which is good 'cos as your Dad I think he may be a bit too old for ya. Do you have a bloke somewhere?"

She sighed "No. I did have but..."

"Mickey!" Called Jackie's voice.

The boy they'd seen run into the church earlier hurried down the passageway. Spotting the girl stood in front of him, he ran up and hugged her legs.

Spotting the startled look on Rose's face, Pete asked "Do you know him?"

"I didn't recognise him in a suit, that's all." Said Rose. She gently shoved Mickey away. "It's alright babe, you've got to let go now."

Mickey complied and went to stand by Jackie.

"He's a right one this." Said Jackie. "Clings on to whatever's there and clings on for dear life. I pity his girlfriend, if he ever gets one. Anyway, what're you two doing here?"

"Just talking." Said Pete.

"Talking eh? World coming to an end and what do ya do? You latch on to the nearest blonde." She led Mickey out.

Pete made to follow her but Rose grabbed him by the arm. "You can't tell her!"

"Why not?"

"I mean... I don't want you to tell her."

"What? Do you not want people to know?"

"Where I come from, she doesn't even know how to work the video recorder." She'd spent all her life watching her mother randomly invite neighbours in for tea before casually saying "Oh, while I'm brewing it, could you set something to record for me?"

"I showed her that last week." Pete insisted. Seeing his daughter raise an eyebrow, he added "Point taken."

* * *

At her Dad's recommendation, Rose went to talk to the Doctor. She found him sat in one of the choir pews, playing with baby Rose.

"Now Rose, you're not gonna bring about the end of the world, are you?" He said sweetly.

Both Rose's frowned at him.

"Your mother gave her to me to look after. How times change." He grinned.

"I oughta be careful." Said Rose. "I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." The light conversation was good. It took their minds off the events outside.

Seeing the baby hold out her hand, Rose absent-mindedly reached out to shake it, only for the Doctor to abruptly shove it away.

"Don't touch the baby!" It became apparent to both of them that the reapers were making a serious racket outside now. "You and her are the same person. That's a paradox. Time's been damaged. Anything we do wrong makes them stronger." He looked around the windows. Fortunately, the creatures seemed to calm down pretty quickly.

"I can't do anything right." Rose sighed.

"Now that you mention it, no." The Doctor shrugged. "So try one thing and **don't touch the baby!"**

"I wasn't gonna! I'm not stupid!"

"You could've fooled me!"

Rose's eyes welled up as he said this, so he softened hi tone. "Alright. I'm sorry. I wasn't really gonna leave you on your own." He sighed. "Between you and me, I don't have a plan. No way out."

"You'll think of something."

"Not this time. The whole Earth's been sterilised. This place, and others like it, are all that's left of the human race. 'cos nothing can stop those creatures. We may keep 'em out of a while but they'll get in eventually. The walls aren't that old."

A small crumble echoed from outside as a reaper scraped at one of the walls, tearing a medium sized notch in it.

"There used to be laws to stop this sort of thing." The Doctor continued. "My people would have stopped this! But they're all gone now. And now I'm going the same way."

A tear crept down Rose's cheek. "If I'd realised..." But she couldn't finish her sentance.

"Just... Tell me you're sorry."

"I am. I'm sorry."

The Doctor grinned. They both felt so much better now that they'd both said sorry and pulled each other into a hug.

Rose felt something in his jacket. "Something's warm. Do you have something in..." She reached into his jacket pocket and promptly yelped in pain. She whipped her hand out, accidentally taking the object with her, which bounced across the carpet.

"It's the TARDIS key!" The Doctor cried, seeing it lie, glowing, on the carpet. He removed his jacket and used it to cover his hand as he picked it up. "It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!"

* * *

The Doctor stood in the pulpit, explaining everything to the congregation. "The inside of my machine was thrown out of the wound, but with the connection to the key, I can retrieve it. And once I've got my ship back then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Does anyone have a battery?"

The congregation were silent for a moment, before Stuart suddenly realised. "Yes!" He grabbed his Dad's mobile off the seat in front. "Will this do?"

The Doctor pulled the battery from the back and turned it over in his hands. "Yes, fantastic! Now I just need to charge it up a bit..." He held the key and the battery together and waved the sonic over them. The guests had no idea what he was doing. Hearing several reapers battering at the main door, they only hoped he would do it fast.

* * *

"One thing you never explained." Pete said to Rose. "What did you come here for?" If I had a time machine, I wouldn't've thought 1987 was anything special."

"No reason." She replied. "It's just where we ended up."

"Lucky you did. If you hadn't been there earlier..."

"That was just a coincidence." She said quickly. Too quickly.

"So in the future, and me and Jacks still together?"

"...Yeah."

"And still living with you?"

"...Yeah."

Her responses weren't exactly reassuring to Pete's mind. Still eager for other explanations, he told himself that Rose was just being a withdrawn teenager and decided to ask her something that would get a longer response. "Am I a good Dad? What was I like with you growing up?"

Rose quickly thought of the best answer she could give. "You told me bedtime stories every night. You never missed one. You were always there." She smiled, hoping she looked like she was covering fond memories. "And um... You took us for picnics in the country every Saturday. You were always there. Someone I could really rely on."

Pete was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. That wasn't him. It was too hard to imagine his future self ever being this sweet and dependable. Like it or not, he just made too many mistakes. Rose was clearly lying to make him think he had something good to look forward to.

Hearing a reaper clawing at the roof tiles, his mind finally started to tell him why.

Fortunately, a soft bump at the front of the church distracted them at this point. The Doctor was gently holding the key out at waist height, point forward. He laughed in delight as a keyhole started to form around the key. Lines spread out from that point, forming into the faint outline of a door, followed by a whole blue box. The whole box was translucent and faint enough to see the alter through, but it would get stronger.

The Doctor let go of the key, leaving it hovering in mid-air, and rushed back to the pulpit. "Right. No-one touch that key. Cos touch it and... zap. Just leave it and everything will be fine. I can fix this. Stuart and Sarah, you will get married, just like I said!"

* * *

Rose sat near the back of the church, her Dad a row behind, she watched the TARDIS image slowly shimmering into view. It was still faint but it was slightly more solid than it was a few minutes ago.

"When this is sorted out..." She began.

"No-one will remember anything." The Doctor cut her off. "And, that thing you changed will... stay changed."

"You mean I'll still be alive?" Said Pete. "I'm meant to be dead." At their silence, he nodded to himself. "That's why I've not done anything with my life. Why I never was anybody."

"It doesn't work like that." Said the Doctor.

"Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's all my fault this is happening."

Rose grasped his hand. "It's my fault."

"No love. I'm your Dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her Dad?" Said Jackie. None of them had heard her approach. "How can you be her Dad? How old were you, 12?"

The Doctor moved a few seats away to avoid the domestic situation.

"Jacks, please. This is Rose." He explained.

"Rose?" She held her baby a bit closer. "How sick is that? You gave our daughter a second hand name! How many are there? Are they all called Rose?"

"For God's sake Jacks. Look, it's the same Rose!" He lifted the baby off her and held it up to try and show a comparison.

"Rose, no!" Shouted the Doctor.

Rose put her hand up to try and stop him and accidentally brushed the baby's forehead as she did so.

There was a brief flash. The air rippled like water and a reaper began to materialise over their heads.

* * *

**Author's notes: A slight change at the end there, I just thought the way it plays out in the episode doesn't speak well for Rose's intelligence, having seemingly forgotten what the Doctor told her a minute ago.**


	4. No Way Out

**Chapter 4: No Way Out**

The guests leapt from their seats, screaming, as the reaper came into view.

"Get behind me!" The Doctor roared, standing tall in the aisle. The guests instinctively obeyed, rushing behind the man.

Up above, the creature unfurled its wings, widening its mouth to reveal that same dark bottomless throat.

The congregation cowered in terror, but the Doctor stepped forward. "I'm the oldest thing in here."

The reaper swooped down on the nearest target. Rose almost watched in slow motion as it enfolded him in its claws, it lit up dazzlingly white, then swooped upwards, leaving no trace of the Timelord behind.

This did appear to have been a difficult swallow, and the creature was severely discoordinated as it tried to pursue several guests fleeing round the side aisles. As it chased them over the front of the church, it smashed into the TARDIS key. The creature rippled like water and vanished, along with the TARDIS. The key dropped to the ground.

Rose ran up and grabbed the key. "It's cold. It's gone cold. Oh my God, he's dead! And it's all my fault! Both of you. All of you. The whole world."

Her Dad enfolded her in his arms again. Jackie looked on, somehow unable to raise another objection.

At this point, a strange darkness settled over the church. It was still broad daylight overhead, but no sunlight was coming in. The only light came from the flickering candles.

"This is it." Said Bev. "There's nothing we can do. It's the end."

* * *

There was no sound coming from the church now, no one had the strength to chat. A few were saying silent prayers. Others were working their way through the communion wine. Still more just sat, staring at their shoes.

Pete Tyler was gazing out the vestry window. In the gloom outside, he could just make out that same brown car materialising on the road. It sped round the corner. The driver slammed on the brakes and swerved to the right, before abruptly vanishing from sight. Pete looked at his watch. Sixty seconds and the car did it again. He'd watched it cycle through this three times now, always the same routine. He sighted. He was going to have to face up to this now.

He found Rose sat as far from anyone else as she could be. Tears were streaming down her face.

"The Doctor really cared about you." He said. "He didn't think you should have to go through that again, if there was any other way. Now there isn't."

"What do you mean?"

"That car that was supposed to kill me. It's here." Though he tried to maintain a brave face, it was hard to stop his voice from shaking. "The Doctor worked it out long ago. But he tried to protect me." He sighed as he pulled on his jacket. "Still... The Doctor's not in charge now. I am."

"But you can't!"

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Who am I love?"

"My Daddy." She sobbed.

Pete became aware of his wife approaching. "Look at her Jackie. She's ours."

Jackie stared this crying girl down. Watching her triggered some overwhelming instinct in her, that she should comfort her somehow. She still wasn't sure how this could be true, but with time monsters clawing at the windows, suddenly all things were possible. Jackie pulled her daughter into a hug.

"I'm supposed to be dead." Pete sighed. "That's what caused all this. You're gonna get rid of me at last."

Jackie's eyes went wide. "Don't say that!"

"Jackie, for once, trust me. You have to survive. You have to be strong, 'cos you need to bring up our daughter."

Jackie was torn between sorrow and confusion. Unable to think of words to say she simply held him by the waist and pulled him in for one last kiss.

"I never read you those bedtime stories." He said to Rose. "Never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you."

"You would have been." Rose sobbed.

"But I can do this for ya." He smiled.

"It's not fair!"

"I've had all these extra hours. No-one's ever had that. Plus I got to see you like this. You're a lovely young girl. I'm very lucky. So, come on, do as your Dad says."

Rose picked up the vase from the seat behind her and handed it to him. That stupid vase.

"You will be there for me?" Said Pete.

She just nodded, not meeting his eye.

"Thanks for saving me." Pete said, and pulled his wife and daughter in for one last hug.

* * *

He tried hard to think mathematically as he peered through a crack in the door. It would take him about 10 seconds for him to run from the church door to the corner, add 15 seconds just in case. That meant he had to run 35 seconds after the car vanished. He counted down on his watch, trying not to think about how he was never going to see the second hand pass over each number again.

Finally it reached its mark and he ran, hoping he hadn't attracted any of the reapers. He reached the gate with no trouble. Here his legs just froze. His survival instinct just unwilling to go on. But then a growl sounded. He turned to the right to see a reaper hovering over him. That was good. He could see his only two options laid out before him and he chose the right path, racing for the corner, as the creature screamed behind him.

He reached the road, just as the car materialised on the corner. He leapt out and closed his eyes. He was knocked across the tarmac. The vase flew through the air and shattered on the ground.

One by one, the reapers began to vanish. Rose felt the warmth return to the air and the sunlight return to the world, almost as if to spite her.

Then she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. "Go to him." Said the Doctor.

Rose rushed down the path through the churchyard. Behind her, guests were stepping out to see what was going on. Steve looked at his Dad, expecting him to say something about curses, but the man just looked sombre. Outside, Mickey's gran' was momentarily distracted from her search for the boy. Jackie just stood stunned, caught somewhere between shock and denial.

Only Rose ran up to the scene of the accident. To her surprise, the driver had stopped this time, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to talk to Pete.

Rose found her Dad gasping for air. She took one of his hands comfortingly. The man just had time to smile warmly.

Ever since Rose was born, Pete had been afraid that he'd let her down, that Jackie would hate him for it. Now here she was. All grown up. Eyes filled with nothing but love. He'd even got a kiss goodbye from his wife, all those arguments they'd had melting away. These were all happy thoughts to go out on.

Rose held his hand until she saw his eyes close and felt his grip grow weak. She gently placed it across his chest. In her head, a new memory surfaced alongside the original...

_"The driver was just a kid." Said Jackie. "He pulled over. Waited for the police. It wasn't his fault. For some reason, he just ran out. They say there was this girl. She sat with Pete while he was dying. She held his hand. Then she was gone. Never found out who she was."_

Rose kissed Pete's forehead and stood up. The Doctor didn't say anything to her, his look said it all. Telling her never to try anything like this again. She nodded in understanding and took his hand. Walking together back to the TARDIS. Leaving behind her father who'd died to save the world, just as it should be.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I really did think this chapter would be longer when I was planning it out, I guess the last ten minutes just have very little dialogue.**

**Next time: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances**


End file.
